


Rey's First Day of Kindergarten

by AliciaSinCiudad



Series: Tumblr-prompt stand-alones [15]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: First day of kindergarten, M/M, Modern AU, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 02:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13731441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliciaSinCiudad/pseuds/AliciaSinCiudad
Summary: It's Rey's first day of kindergarten, and Luke is definitely not crying. It's just, she's growing up so fast...At least she's in good hands with the kind, genuine, funny, attractive (did he say attractive? Luke definitely did not just say attractive) new teacher.





	Rey's First Day of Kindergarten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misskatieleigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misskatieleigh/gifts).



> Inspired by [skymurdoch's tumblr post](http://misskatieleigh.tumblr.com/post/171014630424/skymurdock-roguejedi-au-where-luke-is-a-harried):
> 
> _roguejedi AU where Luke is a harried single dad who’s taking care of his adoptive daughter Rey, who is the Tiniest Hurricane, and on Rey’s first day of kindergarten he meets Mr. Bodhi Rook who happens to be the kindergarten teacher_
> 
> _and they get along smashingly_
> 
> [misskatieleigh](http://archiveofourown.org/users/misskatieleigh/pseuds/misskatieleigh) added the following gif to the prompt:
> 
> (Credit to [rizahmednews](http://rizahmednews.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr for the gif.)

This was a good thing. He’d have the whole day to himself. He could meditate, _really_ meditate, for more than ten minutes, without worrying that someone would be waking up from her nap any moment. He could go out to a café and order something sweet and not share it, just eat the whole damned thing, or even save half for later, and then discover it in the fridge that evening, and eat it, himself, just completely his… Luke realized he had forgotten to eat breakfast.

But _Rey_ had eaten, that was the important thing. She’d eaten a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with nuts and raisins, and _just a little bit of green tea_ watered down almost to complete transparency, so she could be like Daddy (but she was never getting coffee, no matter how well she turned on the puppy eyes). She was wearing her favorite sweater, with a nice t-shirt underneath in case she got warm. Luke had done her hair up in three buns, just like she liked it. She had a backpack with crayons, a notebook, a water-bottle (labeled), a lunch-box (also labeled, and filled with a cheese sandwich, carrot sticks, a mini-yogurt, a spoon (also labeled), an apple, and an extra apple in case someone forgot their lunch), extra clothes in case of accidents, a blanket for nap-time, and probably some interesting-looking rocks Rey found along the way – she was always finding interesting-looking things along the way to everywhere. Rey was well-rested, well-fed, and looking forward to her first day in A Real School – and she wouldn’t even be going home until three o’clock. Rey was ready for this.

And Luke… Luke was… not crying. He might have been coming down with something, though, given the lump in his throat, the fluttering in his chest, and the dampness of his eyes – teariness was a sign of the flu, wasn’t it? He rubbed them surreptitiously – he wouldn’t want his daughter to think he was crying. He didn’t want to frighten her. Kindergarten was nothing to be frightened of. She’d been in day-care before, this really wasn’t any different.

Except that it was, as Rey kept saying, A Real School, and next year she’d be in First Grade, getting real homework, and reading her first chapter books all on her own, and then she’d be in middle school, and high school, navigating her way through adolescence, and then off to college or a job, maybe even the Peace Corp, in a far-off land, like the one she’d been born in…

Luke took a deep breath. “You’re going to be fine,” he softly.

Rey gave him a curious look. “I _am_ fine, Daddy,” she said.

“I was talking to myself.” Luke cleared his throat. Who was he kidding? He wiped away a tear. “I’m gonna miss you, honey. But you’re going to have so much fun. I can’t wait to hear all about your new friends, and the new songs you’re going to learn, the games you’ll play… It’ll be great, honey. Have fun.”

“Are you going to be ok?” Rey asked, and Luke wanted to kick himself. He was the parent, damn it, _she_ was not supposed to be concerned about _him_.

“Of course, sweetie. I’m going to get so much work done today, I’ll wonder what I did before you started kindergarten. Let’s meet your new teacher.” He pulled out the paper with Rey’s class information. “It says here their name is Mr. Rook. Room B-14.”

“That will be the second hall, because B is the second letter!”

Luke smiled. “Alright, you look for the B, and I’ll look for the 14, ok?”

“Got it!”

Rey found the B hall in no time, but Luke found himself walking to room 14 slowly. He wasn’t ready to give Rey up just yet. Not after his nephew… But he wasn’t going to think about Ben today. Today was about Rey.

Alas, one can only walk so slowly, and in a few moments, they were in front of Mr. Rook’s door. Luke reached for the doorknob, when it suddenly turned. He jumped back, just in time, as the door opened, and a slight-but-muscular man walked out. The man took a deep breath, as though bracing himself for the day.

“Mr. Rook?” Rey asked, and the man looked down. Immediately, he mirrored Rey’s bright smile, and he crouched down to her height.

“That’s right, how did you know?”

“I didn’t _know,_ ” Rey said, “I just guessed. Because it’s Mr. Rook’s room. But Daddy says I should always ask instead of assuming.”

“Your Daddy sounds very smart,” Mr. Rook said, his mouth serious, but his eyes dancing. Already, there was no sign of the trepidation Luke had seen mere seconds ago. “Well, you guessed who I am, but you had a pretty good clue. Will you give me a clue, so I can guess who _you_ are?”

Rey beamed again. “Ok. My Daddy says my name suits me because I’m like a ray of sunshine! Except when I’m like a gloomy storm-cloud, or a teeny-tiny hurricane.”

Mr. Rook nodded. “Alright then, you must be Hurri.”

Rey shook her head, holding back a giggle.

“Cane, then? Gloomy Stormberg-McLeod?”

Rey continued to shake her head, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

“No? Not that either? I give up then… unless… no… no, that can’t be right.”

“What? What?” Rey’s eyes went wide.

“You aren’t… the famous _Rey Skywalker_ , are you?”

“I am!” Rey squealed. “You guessed it! Good for you!”

Mr. Rook smiled bashfully. “Well, you gave me a very good hint. And you gave me more chances when I got the answer wrong. Which is good. Because when you’re trying to figure out something you don’t know yet, you’re going to get a lot of wrong answers before you get to the right one, aren’t you?”

“My Daddy says if you’re never wrong, it means you’re never learning something new.”

“Your Daddy is, indeed, a very wise person. I’d like to meet them someday.”

“He’s right here!” Rey squealed, pointing at Luke. Who no longer felt like crying. Rey was clearly going to be in good hands.

“Luke Skywalker, nice to meet you.” Luke stuck out his hand, and Mr. Rook took it. He had a firm handshake, but not forceful, like someone who was confident enough that he didn’t need to make others feel small. His hand was warm. And soft. But not so soft that it seemed like he’d never had to work. Just the right amount of roughness… And he was looking at Luke expectantly. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Luke asked, blushing. “I’m… a bit distracted.”

“Perfectly normal, it _is_ your first day of kindergarten after all.”

“No, it’s _my_ first day of kindergarten!” Rey shouted, delighted.

“Oh, of course, silly me! That’s what I get for assuming instead of asking. Speaking of asking, I’d just asked you a question: Will you be picking Rey up from school today, or will another adult be coming for her?”

“Just me,” Luke said. “Single parent.”

“Oh,” Mr. Rook blushed. “Er, I just meant… if there are grandparents, or baby-sitters, or anything…” He trailed off.

He was _very_ cute when he blushed.

“Oh, right! No, not today. She has an aunt and uncle who might pick her up sometimes, though. Should I give their names to you, or to the office?”

“Both, if you don’t mind. So many things to do the first day of school, I might forget to pass their names on to the secretaries. They’ll get put on an official pick-up list.”

“You’d like Uncle Han,” Rey said, never one to be quiet for long. “He’s a pilot. And Uncle Chuy is too. Aunt Leia isn’t a pilot, but she’s nice anyway. But I want to fly like my Daddy and Uncles. Do _you_ know how to fly?”

“As a matter of fact, I used to be a commercial pilot. But now I’m a kindergarten teacher, so I mostly fly with my imagination. Why don’t you come inside and put your things in your cubby, and we can find a book about things that fly. Did you know that my last name is also the name of a bird?”

And with that, Rey followed the man into the classroom. At the last moment, she turned back and waved at Luke, and he waved back. Then he turned, with a sigh, and went off to leave his sister and brother-in-law’s names in the office. Rey would be fine, he knew. And Luke would too, he knew he would. As soon as he got back to campus, he’d be immersed again in teaching, in research, in mentoring young questioning minds (he would notice the warning signs when something was not quite right, he would talk to the dean if he had his doubts about a student, _before_ things got out of hand, even if it was a favorite student, _especially_ if it was a favorite student…) And he would _not_ be thinking about how quickly Rey was growing up, or about how distractingly attractive her teacher was…

But first, a coffee. And a slice of his favorite café’s pumpkin-chocolate-chip cake.

To eat all by himself.

**Author's Note:**

> On the one hand, I'd kind of like to continue this story. On the other hand, I'm concerned about it going to a pretty unhappy place if I get into Ben at all. So... I don't know... but if anyone else wants to continue this, feel free!


End file.
